Anita’s Blog – CNC April 24-27
- jjvanm
- 12 hours ago
- 3 min read
Get Involved!
If you’ve never joined a BioBlitz, do the City Nature Challenge this year. It’s incredibly satisfying and fun.
The dates: Friday, April 24 through Monday, April 27 at midnight.
Check it out at this link: https://www.citynaturechallenge.org/
Naturalist – that’s the intent of the City Nature Challenge. In keeping with that, the organizers request only the basics this year: wildlife – they explain exactly what that means:
Taking pictures of WILD plants and animals.
Wild means it wasn’t put there and is not being taken care of by people.
In other words, no cultivated plants, no non-wild animals.
This is fun, too: Acceptable observations include evidence of life:
Scat, roadkill, feathers, snake skins, bones, skeletons, animal tracks, pond scum, dead bugs, owl pellets, insect eggs, grub worms, larvae, sea beans, dead fish on the beach, animal or bird tracks.
Photos below, from left: Skeleton of possibly Colubrine snakes in my gloved hand; mystery scat that may be white-tailed dear or armadillo; and dead army ant in the Genus Labidus. (Photos by Anita Westervelt)
Live stuff, of course:
Plants, shrubs, trees
Animals, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish
Birds
Insects, beetles, bugs, bees
Spiders
Butterflies, dragonflies, flies, moths
Fungi and lichen
Sea, beach and dune life: shells, beached critters, sea beans, sea grasses, coral, fish, things swimming in the surf, dead fish on the beach, birds, crabs, grasses and other stuff washed ashore.
Photos for Success
Plants, shrubs, trees: include blooms, buds, leaves, whole plant, thorns, seedpods and/or bark, if you can. Three or four photos can be uploaded under the same observation if images are of the same plant.
You may have to separate plants growing close together. An 8” X 10” white cardboard placed between plants allows a clear photo for better identification. Or take the photo from a position and/or angle that shows a single plant.
Your hand can also single out a specimen and show perspective as in the three photos below, from left: Smartweed Leafflower, Phyllanthus polygonoides; Texas Vervain, Verbena halei; and Graceful Spurge, Euphorbia hypericifolia. (Photos by Anita Westervelt)
A ballcap, foot, glove or six-inch ruler also can show perspective.
Too bright sunlight may wash out detail. Shade the object with your body, or conversely, move to allow a modicum of light on the subject to show detail.
The best identification opportunity for bugs shows their back side.
In the wind, grab a plant with one hand and frame and shoot with the other – difficult but not impossible. Multiple shots may be required; crop and upload your best take.
Butterflies are more easily photographed when approached (slowly) from the back, not front or side, where they can see. Your shadow falling over them alerts them to fly away.
Approach dense shrubs slowly and scan them for moths, bugs, flies and other things hiding amongst the leaves and branches. Moths and night-flying insects take shelter once the sun comes up but are still on the alert to flee.
Sharp, clear photos are important. When you press the “photo” button, be sure not to jar the camera. Camera shake is the top culprit causing a photo to look unfocused.
Know your phone camera’s subject to lens focus range; most are 6 inches between subject and lens, any closer than the optimal range and the camera cannot focus.
Move close to your subject; don’t use the phone’s telephoto option, it causes pixilation, and the photo will not be sharply focused.
Close-crop the image prior to uploading to iNaturalist for maximum visual of your subject.
For more details about this year’s changes, check out these links:
